Welcome to YouTube AdWars: Battle of the Brands! Get ready for an epic showdown where we take a deep dive into the world of YouTube advertising. In each edition, we’ll pick a hot industry, select top brands, and put their ads through the ultimate test on our junbi platform. Who will rise to the top and claim the crown for the best YouTube ad? Buckle up and join us for the thrills, spills, and fierce competition!
Now that we know how these ads will be ranked, let's unravel this edition’s industry target drum roll, please… the powerhouses of pantry-stocking and daily essentials: Supermarkets! Whether you’re watching your favorite YouTube videos or catching up on vlogs, these ads aim to capture your attention and entice you into the store or onto their app. So, as we dive into these clever campaigns that seamlessly interrupt your YouTube browsing, let’s see which brands truly excel at making you pause, take notice, and fill your basket—either online or in-store!
Let The Game Begin…
Before we reveal the top contender, take a moment to reflect on their YouTube ads. Which one do you think stands out the most? Rank them from 1 to 4 in your mind—where 1 is the standout champion. Consider which advertisement grabs your attention and shines the brightest. Then, see if your picks align with our final rankings!
Contestant 1: Aldi
Contestant 2: Walmart
Contestant 3: Lidl
Contestant 4: Tesco (Whoosh)
Contestant 5: REWE (Penny)
Great content from all but who truly nailed the psychology of YouTube advertising? Are you ready with your results? Let’s compare them to what junbi.ai predicted!
Contestant 1: Aldi
Aldi’s concise ad scored 47 overall on Junbi, landing it in the yellow zone—not terrible, but certainly not top-tier. Let’s dive into the individual scores to understand where things went right, and where they went wrong.
What Went Well: Ad Breakthrough
Aldi nailed it with an impressive 94 on Ad Breakthrough, capturing and holding viewers' attention right from the start. The ad kicks off with a bold close-up of a person eating a carrot — an eye-catching move that immediately draws attention. The focal point remains clear throughout the ad, aided by well-placed text and a straightforward visual structure, as seen in their effectiveness driver graph.
Room for Improvement: Brand Attention
The ad scored a 42 on Brand Attention. Here’s why: in the opening scene, the person eating the carrot steals the spotlight, overshadowing the brand logo. This is a classic example of what we call “visual vampires” — elements like faces that pull attention away from key branding. One fix? Consider placing the logo before introducing other strong visual elements.
Even when Aldi’s logo appeared at the end, it lacked contrast, causing it to blend in with the background. Viewers’ attention was split between the logo and the busy scene behind it. Pro tip: Always use high contrast when displaying your brand name or logo so it truly stands out.
Where They Struggled Most: Cognitive Ease
Cognitive Ease scored the lowest at just 11. To understand why, let’s analyze the graph.
The ad starts off strong with a clear focal point and minimal complexity. But as soon as the first scene changes, things get crowded and chaotic. In just 2.5 seconds, the visual complexity ramps up, scattering attention across multiple elements. It’s overwhelming, especially given the short duration of the scene, making it difficult for viewers to process everything. This can be seen in the image below.
The last scene is where Cognitive Ease takes a nosedive. It’s an overcrowded shot with low contrast and too much happening at once—all packed into 2 seconds. Viewers don’t get enough time to adjust, adding to the cognitive load and dragging the score down further.
Key Takeaways: Keep scenes clean and simple, avoid overcrowding, and allow sufficient time for viewers to process each scene before moving on. And most importantly, ensure your brand shines through with high contrast and strategic placement!
Contestant 2: Walmart
Walmart raised the bar high with an overall score of 76. Let’s see what they did right and where they missed out.
What Worked: Ad Breakthrough
Walmart scored a solid 68 in Ad Breakthrough, meaning they achieved a spot in getting some attention away from the distractors. The ad’s use of large, clear fonts with high contrast against the background helped keep focus. They also incorporated faces, which is a strong attention-grabbing tactic. However, the ad lacked a clear focal point throughout. The frequent scene changes caused dips in attention, as seen in their effectiveness driver graph. Simplifying the visual flow and reducing scene changes could have boosted their score even further.
Outstanding Performance: Brand Attention
This score that did the majority of heavy lifting in making this ad great. They bagged a 96, which is mind-blowing. This score is largely due to how seamlessly they integrated their brand logo throughout the ad. They made strategic use of the primacy and recency effect, displaying the Walmart logo prominently on contrasting backgrounds at both the beginning and end of the ad. This approach ensured strong brand recall. Excellent work, Walmart!
Where They Struggled: Cognitive Ease
Now is the time to discuss the elephant in the room, their cognitive ease score. With just a 26, we now know the root cause of the element that was pulling their ad performance down. This indicates that the ad was perceived as complex and difficult to process. The graph reveals significant fluctuations between high and low points, with sharp drops occurring whenever there was a scene change. Cognitive ease thrives on simplicity, and the frequent transitions made it hard for viewers to keep up.
Does this mean Walmart would need to completely remake the ad if they had tested it on junbi beforehand? Not necessarily. Simple adjustments, such as reducing the number of scene changes, could have significantly improved Cognitive Ease without overhauling the entire ad. This blog very well describes how one can elevate their ad’s performance without changing much from their ad.
Takeaway: While Walmart’s ad excelled in Brand Attention, improving the flow and reducing visual complexity would enhance its overall performance even more. The beauty of junbi.ai is that it helps identify these small yet impactful tweaks that can elevate your ad’s effectiveness.
Contestant 3: Lidl
Ready to be blown away? Lidl scored an incredible 98 in overall effectiveness! Hands down, you killed it, Lidl. Let’s break down your scores to learn from your amazing YouTube ad!
What Went Exceptionally Well: Ad Breakthrough
Lidl crushed it with a near-perfect score of 97 on Ad Breakthrough. From start to finish, the ad expertly captured attention by using faces, a structured background that naturally guided viewers' eyes, and clear, bold fonts. Every scene was thoughtfully designed to keep attention high, as evidenced by the consistently strong performance in the graph. Lidl absolutely mastered the art of grabbing and holding attention.
Strong Performance: Brand Attention
With a score of 84, Lidl performed impressively in Brand Attention. Their brand was smartly integrated into the ad, ensuring strong visibility and recall. However, there’s always room for improvement: at the beginning of the ad, the brand name competed with “attention vampires” (faces) that drew attention away. A simple fix would be to enlarge the logo or isolate it visually to command more focus. Even so, they still managed to establish a solid presence for their brand throughout the ad.
Impressive Clarity: Cognitive Ease
Lidl scored an impressive 85 on Cognitive Ease, proving that their ad was easy to process and understand. You might be wondering—how did they manage such a high score despite several scene changes? Cognitive Ease doesn’t just count the number of scene transitions; it’s about how well those transitions are understood. Lidl effectively gave viewers enough time to process each scene before moving to the next, building a cohesive narrative. The transitions felt natural, with the focus remaining on key characters while keeping the background simple and uncluttered.
Of course, a more minimalistic approach with fewer scene changes could push the score even higher. But for a longer ad, scoring 85 on Cognitive Ease is an excellent achievement!
Takeaway: Lidl’s ad is a great example of how to balance multiple visual elements while maintaining strong brand presence and viewer engagement. Their high scores show that thoughtful design and structured storytelling can result in an almost perfect YouTube ad!
Contestant 4: Tesco (Whoosh)
Tesco Whoosh scored an overall 46 on Junbi. The ad is short and straightforward, so where did it go wrong?
Missed Opportunities: Ad Breakthrough
Tesco’s lowest score was in Ad Breakthrough, landing in the 36th percentile. While the ad did use a face and created a focal point, it still struggled to stand out. Here’s why:
- Dim Colors: The ad’s muted color palette failed to catch viewers' eyes.
- Unclear Text: The text at the bottom of the screen made the ad more dull and less attractive.
- Lack of Contrast: The characters didn’t stand out from the background, and in the final scene, the food on the table was barely visible. The low contrast made the visuals less engaging.
Remember, junbi compares ads against thousands of others on YouTube, and Tesco’s ad didn’t grab attention as effectively as many of its competitors.
Needs Improvement: Brand Attention
Tesco scored 50 in Brand Attention, which is just average. The ad failed to feature a large, clear logo at both the beginning and end, which led to the low points in the effectiveness driver graph during those times. The graph saw a slight uptick when the grocery bag with Tesco’s logo appeared mid-ad, which was a smart move.
However, the attempt to include the brand name in a sentence at the bottom of the screen throughout the ad didn’t pay off. With such a short ad packed with visuals and a storyline, the small text at the bottom went unnoticed. A better approach would have been to integrate the brand logo more prominently within the scenes, ensuring stronger brand recall.
The Bright Spot: Cognitive Ease
Tesco’s best score was for Cognitive Ease, where they hit the 60th percentile. The ad’s simplicity and short runtime worked in their favor, as reflected by several highs in the graph. However, the fast and abrupt scene changes brought the score down at certain points. Slowing down those transitions could have significantly improved the ad’s cognitive ease, making it easier for viewers to follow the storyline.
Takeaway: Tesco’s ad had the potential to perform much better with a few tweaks. Stronger colors, clearer text, better logo placement, and smoother transitions would elevate the ad’s overall effectiveness, making it more engaging and memorable.
Contestant 5: REWE (Penny)
Is our last contestant the best of the bunch, or did they fall short? Unfortunately, Penny’s overall score of 42 was the lowest among all competitors. Let’s break down what happened.
Struggles with Ad Breakthrough
Penny’s ad started off with a selfie of a woman on the phone, which didn’t capture much attention—leading to a low dip on the graph right at the beginning. Despite using faces and big fonts (a good strategy), the ad lacked a stable focal point. At certain points, they crammed up to three images into one scene, which scattered focus and made it hard for viewers to know where to look. The steep drop at the end? That came from an abrupt scene change, introducing a completely new backdrop that disrupted the flow.
Room for Improvement: Brand Attention
Penny scored a 44 on Brand Attention. If you’ve been following our blogs, you can probably guess the issue—they didn’t display their logo at the beginning! With no brand presence to kick off the ad, they missed a major opportunity to reinforce brand awareness.
To boost their score, Penny could have featured their logo prominently throughout the ad. Despite this oversight, they still managed a 44, which shows potential. If the logo had been shown in the beginning, maintained consistently, and highlighted with high contrast, this score could have easily soared to 90+.
Mixed Results: Cognitive Ease
Penny’s Cognitive Ease score landed them in the 50th percentile, a middle-of-the-road result. The reason? Their graph showed too many dips and peaks, mainly due to rapid scene changes. However, they avoided overcrowding scenes with excessive visuals, which saved them from scoring even lower. Maintaining a clear focal point throughout the ad was a strength that helped mitigate some of the complexity.
Takeaway: Penny’s ad lacked the elements needed to make it truly memorable. Strengthening focal points, improving brand visibility, and smoothing out scene changes would significantly elevate its effectiveness. Better luck next time, Penny!
Who Takes the Trophy?
Here are the rankings:
- Aldi: Overall score 47
- Walmart: Overall score 76
- Lidl: Overall score 98
- Tesco (Whoosh): Overall score 46
- REWE (Penny): Overall score 42
Congrats to Lidl for winning the Battle of the Brands - Supermarkets Edition! They led the pack with an exceptional performance. The other ads were creative but missed out on some easily fixable points that could have been optimized with junbi.ai.
Don’t miss your chance to be the brand that turns heads! See you in the next Battle. Until then, get creative and get junbi-approved!
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